


Red String

by Llybian



Series: Roses Are Falling [2]
Category: Slayers (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Red String of Fate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:35:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29367126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Llybian/pseuds/Llybian
Summary: When she’d first seen the strand going from her finger to somewhere off in the distance, she hadn’t known what to think. This sort of thing was supposed to be just… a story! Barely a story, even. More like a vague metaphorical idea. When she saw who the other end attached to, she knew exactly what to think: Absolutely not.
Relationships: Filia Ul Copt/Xellos
Series: Roses Are Falling [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2133183
Kudos: 11





	Red String

“You broke it…” Filia’s tone was aghast, as though reporting a crime that was not only terrible, but _impossible_. Like strangling the color blue or spin-kicking the idea of charity.

“You’re acting like that’s a _bad_ thing,” Xellos rushed out, his voice betraying much more childlike pique than usual. “You almost passed out when you saw it.”

She couldn’t exactly contradict him on that. When she’d first seen the strand going from her finger to somewhere off in the distance, she hadn’t known what to think. This sort of thing was supposed to be just… a story! Barely a story, even. More like a vague metaphorical idea. When she saw who the other end attached to, she knew exactly what to think: _Absolutely not._

Jillas and Gravos hadn’t been able to see the string so her reaction to Xellos had seemed overblown, even for her. Now, in the relative privacy of the storage room, her temper had cooled to the point that she could just begin to feel how worried she was.

“Don’t tell me you’re just okay with us being _soulmates._ ” He said the last word through his teeth.

“Of course not,” she shot back on automatic. “I… you’re… a demon! And not even one of the better demons!”

Filia didn’t see the twitch at the corner of Xellos’s lips. Her eyes were transfixed on the frayed spectral threads between them. She couldn’t look away from them. They stood out like a wound on reality.

“It’s just… you can’t just go and break something like this!” she explained. “You’re not supposed to be able to… it’s…”

“…Fate?” Xellos finished for her. He scratched his cheek as though the word embarrassed him. “To be perfectly honest I didn’t think it would break so easily,” he admitted.

She let that statement and its dark implications wash over her.

“But still, you can’t stand there and tell me that you weren’t going to cut it anyway, Filia,” he cut in. “Fate be damned.”

Filia mouthed vague words for a moment, her horror momentarily robbing her of speech. “I… I was a priestess! You know this! I’ve dealt in prophecy my whole life and one thing you do _not_ do is break a prophecy. Nothing good can come from that.”

“So this is it, then?” Xellos asked, voice rising in incredulity. “The Gods or Destiny or whoever have spoken so now we’re bound to completely disregard our own wants or even just good sense and promptly fall madly in love with each other?”

She felt her face warming up. “I didn’t say _that._ I just… we should’ve thought about it a bit more before ruining it is all!”

 _Ruining it,_ he thought. There really was something amiss if she was looking at it that way. Of course, he was a good 80% sure that this was all a prank by Lord Beastmaster (and probably one he deserved), so there wasn’t exactly a need to freak out. But from _her_ perspective it was like complaining someone had ruined your own execution.

“What do you want to do then?” he asked quietly. Blaming him was a defense mechanism and even she had to realize that at this point. What would she do with this whole “soulmates” business (which, to be clear, _had to be_ a prank) now?

The fingernail of her right index finger was between her teeth, chewing in muted agitation. Hesitantly she reached out and grasped the two broken threads. With practiced movement she tied the red strings into a neat little bow.

“We can just… buy some time is all,” she said, “until we figure out what we want to do about this. This should be fine for now.”

He stared at her. She was so… ridiculous.

“Filia…”

“What?” she snapped, daring him to make some sort of comment.

But Xellos wasn’t one to back down from a dare.

“We finally tied the knot!” he cooed.


End file.
